Zerlin and Inge get palm beach wins
We had some great racing at Palm Beach last weekend.
Five FE's showed up for the SARRC event. Adam Zerlin won the pole, Ron Inge (took the car away from Matthew for the weekend) was second, new comer Joel Janco in a Roibinson Motor Sports rental FE was 3rd, Brandon (Wally Osinga's grandson, I can't remember his last name) and Joe Braddock were the 5 cars entered.
First race had Adam out front, but only by 3 carlengths as Inge and Janco battled for 2nd, Brandon fell back a little and Joe was close to him.
Half way thru, a F600 pointed Inge by on the right and then as Ron got beside him, the guy started to move to the right!!Yikes, from an eigth of a mile away I could see the side by side tire smoke....both continued but Ron had some toe out in the left rear.
Janco put his head down and caught up to Adam with 2 to go and it was a great battle. Well, great for us on pit road but not for Adam's mother who was having a rough time watching her little boy doing battle. I don't know which was better to watch, the racing or her girations on pit road......all the fingers were crossed, the legs crossed and anything else that would bring luck!
Janco got outside of Zerlin on the second to the last turn but Adam held his line and won by 2 lengths. Inge was back 5 lengths, and Brandon was pretty close to Ron.
The 15 lap main race was Sunday morning. All the participants were ready to go, except Joe who had to leave on Saturday afternoon after his race.
Lined up the same way and off they went. Adam had a 2 length lead after 3 laps, Janco had gotten by Inge and was now working his way up to Adam, Brandon was getting more seat time and was getting within a second of Inge's lap time.
Joel Janco did a great pass on Zerlin at the end of the back straight, and Inge soon followed. Ron was 4 seconds behind Joel and driving hard. Joel had some traffic and Ron got thru it and the race was on. Nose to tail for 3 laps, Ron finally got by Joel. But Joel didn't give up, he put on a spirited drive to hang with Ron. With 3 to go, Inge nailed a lap and pulled out a whopping 2 second lead that he held onto for the win!
Joel led for 9 laps and had a great time, again just missing the win. Inge was relieved, at impound he said "Man I'm glad I was able to pull that off, Matthew would have given me nothing but grief if I didn't win".
Sunday afternoon was another great race. The FE's were 3 wide into turn one, Zerlin on the outside, Inge in the middle and Janco pressing the issue after a great start. In the brake zone, someone twitched, zigged and zagged and Inge was off to the outside with a minor air flight, but not too serious. That gave Adam the break he was looking for and off he went. Janco had his sights on Adam and after 3 laps was right on Adam's tail. For the next 3 laps it was some of the best FE racing you could have seen between these two. Side by side down the back straight and into the long right before the pits these guys were racing hard for the lead. Brandon meanwhile, was now getting a hold of Wally's car and was within easy sight of the leaders. One mistake by the close racing duo and Ole Brandon (not really, he's a youngster, like 17 or something) was set up for a win. Inge spun while trying to catch up after his turn one incident and continued in 4th.
Two laps to go, and Janco tries the outside at the last turn! They come out on the straight with Zerlin a nose ahead going down the front straight for turn one. Both late brake, wiggle and make it through the turn. On the back stretch into sight they come, and it's Janco on the inside this time for the last 270 degree right hander. No way Adam could pull of an outside defense. Wanna bet!!! Out of the turn they come and it's Adam with a half a car length lead in the drag race to the checker!! Adam Zerlin by 2/3 of a car length!! Whooo hooo, now that was exciting!!
Congrats to Adam for winning 2 high pressure races, for Ron Inge doing a great job and winning the SARRC race and for new commer Joel Janco letting the guys know he is ready to race!! Brandon has some seat time and was getting his lap times down to the other 3 cars that were there, so in the future he is going to be in the mix too.
The next SARRC race is at Roebling the last weekend of April with the VIR Double National 2 weeks before that. The racing is good folks!!!
See you at the races
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Originally Posted by Mick Robinson
